Tag: arrogance

  • Engage, Not Just Condemn

    partytilfajr:

    It is great to identify problems, but the issue I have is that, especially in the West, we have fallen into a “culture of condemnation,” in which in order to be exempt from criticism, we simply must condemn “Issue X” or “Issue Y,” and therefore, we have shown, through mere words, that we are “acceptable” or “good” through our condemnation.

    I am sorry, I think that is terrible and lazy; it is easy to condemn something, it is far more difficult to change something. Great, you identify a problem, but the larger question is: are you prepared to take the necessary steps to change it?

    This is also true for the behaviour by many Muslims that profess to be on a rightly guided path compared to everyone else, then promptly go about condemning others because that’s easier than engaging meaningfully around the specific issue at hand.

    It’s also easier to dismiss everything a recognised scholar says just because of where he comes from, or who he may be affiliated with, than it is to understand that scholar’s perspectives and focus on unwrapping that.

    The easiest of all is to assume that your level of piety, your level of understanding, or your level of sincerity in practice is greater than anyone else that does not subscribe to your exact school of thought or interpretations, while emphasising the advice about hating for the sake of Allah, and completing neglecting the advice of good manners in speech and moderation. 

    When faced with the arrogance, condescension, and inconsideration of the majority of Muslims I see these days, both on Tumblr and in real life, my heart sinks, not only because of how steeped we are in our individual piety without any consideration for our collective responsibility, but also because I see more effort applied towards forming divisions and intolerance rather than establishing understanding and unity amongst all who profess the Shahadah. 

  • Question – The Distracted Ummah

    naziafk answered your question: The Distracted Ummah

    🙁 you know, i just went to makkah and came back a month ago alhumdullillah. i was one of those people who took a pic there. i felt hesitant.

    Alhamdulillah. I know how tempting it can be. To put my post into context, that was my experience more than 10 years ago, so it’s expected that things have gotten progressively worse since then, let alone the indulgence in materialism around the precinct of the Ka’aba. So I guess squeezing off a single photo with hesitation will hopefully earn you Allah’s pleasure for resisting the temptation to succumb to the urge completely. Insha-Allah your efforts have been accepted. Ameen. 🙂

  • The Distracted Ummah

    A few more memories surfaced after my last post about my visit to the Haramain in Makkah and Madinah, leaving me somewhat disillusioned about the state of Muslims today. Here’s a few experiences from that same first visit of mine that you may or may not find disturbing. 

    I was making tawaaf one evening with a surprisingly small crowd, when I passed by two young ladies also making tawaaf. Only difference is that they were taking a leisurely stroll around the Ka’aba with designer handbags slung fashionably over their shoulders. I don’t recall clearly if they were also absorbed in conversation or not, but focused on tawaaf they definitely appeared not to be.

    Before I could fully absorb this scene and while trying to turn my gaze away from them, a young man passed me by. He was tall, very well groomed, sporting a really fashionably shaped beard, gelled up hair, and had his cell phone firmly pressed against his ear while also performing his tawaaf. That just seemed wrong on so many levels, it left me really sad.

    Fortunately this was set aside by the sight of a woman in full niqab performing tawaaf, and suddenly jerking to a stop at the fear of accidentally touching a male that was walking in front of her. The man was obviously oblivious to others walking around him, but the motion of her hand that clearly indicated her concern and restraint remains clearly imprinted in my mind whenever I think about that moment. It had all the hallmarks of piety and modesty captured in a single gesture. Whether that reflected her true character or not is really irrelevant to me. But if I had to choose between the three incidents, the latter is definitely the one that reminded me of Allah, while the other two made me cringe.

    Then there was the time that I was walking through the souk in Madinah just after Dhuhr salaah, gaze firmly fixed on the ground in front of me as is my habit when walking in public (mostly out of shyness rather than modesty). Suddenly, from the side of me, I heard this deep throated grunt, quickly succeeded by this gob of discoloured mucus being spat out in front of me in the middle of the walkway, followed by a single flowing motion of the culprit stepping on it and spreading it wafer thin into the pathway as if that eliminated its disgusting presence. It was art in motion. Disgusting art at that.

    I won’t even go into the details of the woman that defecated on Mount Arafat at the time of Hajj a few years ago, as described by someone I knew that attended Hajj that year. Or so many other disgusting images and actions of impiety and filth practised openly by Muslims of all walks of life, and of all nations that I have no doubt that this is not restricted to any specific sect, or madhab, nor do I have any reason to believe any group is immune to this behaviour either.

    I look at many posts on Tumblr where people are sharing intriguing photos, often in real time, about their visit to the Ka’aba, and I wonder how far gone we really are that we can be standing in the single holiest place on earth, and instead of taking advantage of that nearness to Allah by focusing on dua and istighfaar, instead we’re thinking about looking cool and sharing cool photos with others, and wondering where we’re going to find that really cool gift for ourselves or someone back home. 

    The point I’m trying to make is that if we bothered to step away from our social networks for long enough, we’ll realise that the problems with the Ummah run far deeper than differing opinions about rituals, or sects formed by misguided zealots in the name of some innocent scholar. The real problem with the Ummah is that we’ve lost our self-respect, let alone the respect of what is sacred in Islam. We’re so distracted that we assume that our ability to focus on a single distraction at a time is in fact meritorious, forgetting that we’re actually still distracted from what’s important. 

    Look closer to home. Look in the masjid and see how many men of all ages engage in laughter, loud conversation and worldly distractions while waiting for salaah. It’s gotten so bad that at the place where I regularly perform Dhuhr salaah close to the office, some elderly men continue talking right through the Iqamah and only stop when the Imam begins the salaah. 

    So we really should stop trying so hard to focus on rectifying everyone else and convincing everyone else that we’re the only rightly guided ones because we ascribe to the sect that is closest to the correct path, while completely forgetting our manners, modesty, respect, dignity and so many other basic virtues that far outweigh our ability or responsibility to refute the opinions of the ill-informed in ways that expose our own arrogance and pride. 

    This post drips of the same condescension, rhetoric and generalisations that I despise hearing in the Friday khutbahs. But it’s not intended that way. It really is just reflective of how overwhelming the reality of this is when I consider the futile debates about theoretical perspectives while we’re holding on to our faith through token reference points that appease our conscience only, leaving us wondering in agony why our duas rarely appear to be answered. 

  • Is there really only one ONE straight path?

    More often than not, references to this ‘straight path’ is made in arrogant and condescending tones denoting that only a single interpretation of Islam is possibly acceptable and that everyone else are misguided deviants. This is like saying that there is only black and white and every colour in between doesn’t exist. I’ve seen this and many other similar sentiments appear on Tumblr, and the only emotions it stirs in me is the same frustration I experience when I sit in the masjid and listen to the condescension and rhetoric flowing thick and fast from the tongues of so many self-righteous imams that barely represent the sunnah in their physique, manner or disposition. 

    Islam is not a monolithic structure with a hierarchy that has only a single route to the top. There is only One Allah. This is indisputable and is also the only unforgivable sin. There are a million ways to achieve Allah’s pleasure and mercy, so assuming that there is only one interpretation or practice of what ‘THE straight path’ is, is a fallacy most often grounded in self-indulgent piety.

    This same inflexible thinking is what gives rise to sects and madhabs and so many other deviations that are hardly ever the teachings of the true pious scholars but instead are excessive interpretations by their over zealous followers. Those sects that were formed through the self-proclamation of its founders are blatantly misguided, and those that were formed through the proclamations of its followers have always been questionable. 

    The lazy ones insist on labels. The arrogant ones judge without true knowledge. The fools pronounce takfir on others without concern for their own standing with Allah. The same way that there is a million ways to give charity, and each way earns Allah’s pleasure, there is a million ways to be a Muslim without deviating from the principles that Islam has established through the example set by Rasulullah (SAW). Anyone that insists otherwise is at risk of judging others from a position of religious arrogance rather than true concern. 

    Sahih Bukhari ~ Vol 3, Book 49. Peacemaking. Hadith 861.

    Narrated By ‘Aisha : Allah’s Apostle said, “If somebody innovates something which is not in harmony with the principles of our religion, that thing is rejected.”

    Principles, not traditions. Far too often we confuse the two and end up hopelessly refuting people on the basis of arrogant affiliations rather than true contradictions or innovations that violate the principles of Islam. May Allah protect us all from such ignorance and arrogance, the combination of which is fatal to our iman.

  • Random thought

    Reading through some of my recent posts, I realised how much I annoy myself. I hate that I constantly tend towards speaking of ‘we’ instead of ‘me’. There’s a strong undertone of arrogance in such a presumptuous position, by assuming that I am capable of speaking on behalf of others when in fact my observations are nothing but a reflection of my own life’s experiences. 

    It seems sincerity and humility are still whiling away in  the distance whilst I delude myself into believing that I’ve acquired it already. Like they say, the mere profession of humility is in itself arrogance. 　

  • Asmaa’ bint Yazeed رضي الله عنها reported that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

    “Shall I tell you who is the best of you?”

    They replied: “Yes”.

    He صلى الله عليه وسلم said: “Those who remind you of Allah when you see them.”

    He went on to say: “Shall I tell you about the most evil ones from amongst you?”

    They said: “Of course.”

    He صلى الله عليه وسلم said: “Those who go around with Nameemah. They make enmity between friends and they seek problems for the innocent.”

    “Musnad” of Imaam Ahmad and al-Bukhaaree in “Al-Adab Al-Mufrad” (323) and graded as “Hasan” by Shaikh al-Albaanee


    I’m often reminded of this hadith when I engage with many learned members of the Ummah. Some pretend to be more learned than others, but in most of my interactions, I’ve found that those who profess to be truer adherents of the Sunnah often had the most repulsive of manners. I’ve seen learned men, and men recognised as leading scholars of their time and in their communities speak with condescension and aloofness about those that did not agree with them, or revere their opinions.

    But similarly, as someone recently posted, it’s often those most humble without realising it, and those most subdued in their proclamation of virtues and practises that are the ones that have reminded me of Allah most. Rarely have I been reminded of Allah at the sight of an imam, or others that claim scholarly and leadership titles to embellish their profiles. Most often, those that maintain an overt appearance with distinction lack sincerity and moderation in their rebuking of others.

  • The strangeness of the self-proclaimed strangers

    I sometimes think that it requires a healthy dose of arrogance and pompousness to assume that I am from amongst the strangers that Rasulullah (SAW) has referred to. There are so many that profess to be on this path, that if each were to be believed, it would render the endless debates on Tumblr null and void, especially if each were actually correct. 

    Sifting through the opinions and interpretations of numerous scholars, ulama, wannabe scholars and others makes such a quest even more difficult. That is, the quest of determining whether or not I’m on the right path. The principles of Islam and characteristics of one who is inspired by the Sunnah is visible in sincere adherents across many different schools of thought, and even sects.

    The arrogance and condescension of some in their chosen forms of propagation of their views generally dissuade me from taking advice or guidance from them, which is a shame. It’s a shame because there is so much good that could be overlooked or dismissed because of the unpalatable nature of the attitude of those that may actually be in possession of valuable and beneficial knowledge. 

    I sincerely hope that Allah accepts me amongst these ‘strangers’ that are of meritorious character. But trying to determine, in my lifetime, whether or not I am a part of this blessed group will probably be a self-indulgence that will most probably result in arrogance before it benefits me with humility. So I’d rather live with doubt about my affiliations, rather than delusions about my merits. 

  • I pray that I will never be beholden to society. Such obligation has seen the most well-meaning turn into the most attention-seeking. And if the profession of humility is in itself arrogance, then I am already teetering on the brink of such filth by making this statement to begin with.